Below are three possible ways to extend the legacy HAT contract downwards proportionally into 99-seat spaces. In all three cases, the aim is to allow the lowest-budget productions to remain close to where they currently stand, but to guide them to build steadily towards higher actor payments and a full contract as they earn more money.

This way, struggling theaters survive, healthy theaters have to pay slightly more, and thriving theaters move to a contract.

No opportunities are eliminated, better-paying work is encouraged, and maybe, just maybe, everybody's happy.

(There's a clear precedent for starting these tiers at a low stipend rate for the lowest-budget productions: SAG-AFTRA offers several new media and student contracts that allow union actors to work for free or for a stipend. Those contracts are a win/win for everyone -- the relationships built on those low- or no-budget projects frequently lead to significant paying work down the road.)

Note that these numbers are very rough - they're just intended to make it clear that a tiered solution like this is both logical and viable.

Please also note that in all cases, stage managers and ASMs should be paid at a separate, higher rate, as noted in the HAT contract tiers copied below -- the only reason I didn't include those levels in these proposed charts was to keep things as simple and readable as possible.

This is based on the previous HAT contract, not the current one -- because the old HAT contract was tiered based on box office and the new one isn't, the pay levels in the new one, but the structure of the old one, served as a logical starting point to build a proposed tiered solution.